Native American Needle Baskets

This week I had the opportunity to learn to weave sinew and pine needle baskets with Friends Paula and Gaylin. Now I can mark this off my bucket list. My brain is swirling with possibilities.

I LOVE the handle style. It is so simple and elegant.

Mardi Gras Mosaics

My Art Girls. (Missing two.)

This week my Art Girls did a project I call Mardi Gras Mosaics, both because Lent just started this week and because we used all those leftover, cheezy Mardi Gras necklaces. I collected second hand ones and also found them at the dollar store. (Sometimes cheaper than I found them at the thrift store!)  I also bought old picture frames from thrift stores for about $1-2 each. I had a bunch of pony beads and tiny assorted beads in my stash that we used to fill in with and add interest and variety. Then all you need is some tacky glue that will dry clear.

I took the glass out of the frames and cut some plain cardboard to insert if necessary. You could also paint the cardboard white. The frames were approximately 11 x 14 size. It took a LOT of necklaces, but you could also do this project with smaller frames.

We spread the glue out with cardboard chunks. I think next time we would just glue up smaller sections as they worked. Most started in the middle and worked out which seems like a good design plan for this project.

Here is a starter and finished picture. We re-glued some from the top after they were done arranging their beads. The glue will dry clear. (Below: Those white glue lines will go away.)

They all had their own ideas and style. The results were delightful.

Favorite, Beautiful Girls

We had our annual church Valentine's banquet, and I was practicing with my "big" camera lens. Here are some shots of some of our favorite church girls.

 Daughter M.

 Daughter L.

 Daughter A

 Brenda and Kelsey

 Brittney (and Friend Alex)

 Mom Jeanine

 Mother Lorna

 Niece Holly (and hubby Bob) gave us a wonderful musical program.

 I made whales for favors this year. We had a whale of a good time together.

Baby Shots

Today I made my first attempt at cutesy baby photography for great-niece Pixyn Jane.

 It's a whole new learning curve to photograph babies, but we had fun and got a few good shots.

I doesn't hurt to have a good looking set of parents either.

Hedgehog Valentine Party

Friend Elea had a Valentine party and the theme was: Cute Hedgehogs.

I helped with the crafts. We made three different hedgehog crafts.

We made these clay hedgehogs. The instructions are here.

Why are they always more appealing when the kids make them?

We made these pom pom hedgies with instructions from the Zakka Life blog.

The third craft was a simple felt sewing project. We made them into refrigerator magnets.

And they served these adorable hedgehog donut holes for part of the lunch. Simple and really fun!

Cake Queen

D-I-L Mac competed in her annual cake decoration competition last week. Won 3rd and advances to the next level. Free trip!

Stoplight

M. and her buddies James and Ann competed in One-act play competition at the end of Jan. There were 5 local homeschool plays. Ours was called "Stoplight."

In Stoplight, two "sisters" and their "cousin" make a road trip to Grandma's house over the holidays. The driver is unbending in her desire to keep every law of the road, regardless of the circumstances. The passengers suffer and cajole, but little progress is made.

They all three won best actor awards, and the play took second place in the competetion.

Ann, James, Mrs. W., M. and Mrs. K

Walking Through Woods

We started back with my Art Girls class this week. I wanted to do a winter project and saw a wonderful one here that tied into Robert Frost's classic Woods on a Snowy Evening poem. We liked it so well that we did it again on Monday at our mini-co-op day. Finished Monday projects above: Top, L to R: W., M., Me, James, Linda, Ann.

I cut rectangles from cereal boxes. We taped them down (painter's tape) onto newspaper to make a nice frame.

Black (acrylic) paint for the trees, larger in front and slimmer as they stand farther back. Trees should be tapering smaller as they go to the top of the page. All trees go off the top of page. Uneven numbers, staggered trunk heights and different thickness of trunks give movement and interest to the composition.

 On Monday, we moms painted too. (Friend Linda.)

After painting the trees, white (acrylic) paint is slightly thinned and flicked over pictures with brushes to make "snow." I opened the bottoms of a few boxes, then just propped them over each picture to contain the flicking paint. They were easy to collapse flat and take along to class.

After all the black paint is dry, white is painted at the base of trees to make the ground area. Think of what kind of line the snow is making between the trees. (Note differences in horizon lines in first picture.) You may have to touch up the sides of the trees if over painted. Let dry. Remove the painter's tape carefully and enjoy your woods. We read the poem before starting, and then wrote chosen lines from the poem along the bottom of our pictures when they were done.

During my Art Girls class, we had a second project. Since Valentine's Day is coming up, we did a watercolor resist project. I suggested hearts, but they could draw whatever they wanted with oil pastels. We tried to work a wet wash watercolor to try to get our colors to flow into each other. They did a great job.